Bruce Springsteen is to reveal seven “lost” albums in June – a collection of 83 songs, 74 of which have never officially been released.
Spanning 1983 to 2018, Tracks II: The Lost Albums compiles “full records, some of them even to the point of being mixed and not released”, Springsteen said in a statement.
The new vault project came together during the Covid-19 pandemic. “I’ve played this music to myself and often close friends for years now,” he said. “I’m glad you’ll get a chance to finally hear them. I hope you enjoy them.”
Fans will be able to hear the 75-year-old rock star developing from the spartan tenor of Nebraska towards the sound of Born in the USA on a record titled LA Garage Sessions 83. Streets of Philadelphia Sessions, meanwhile, expands on the sound of the song Springsteen made for Jonathan Demme’s 1993 film Philadelphia, dabbling in drum loops and synthesisers and the influence of hip-hop. Fearing a disconnect with his audience, his next album was instead The Ghost of Tom Joad in 1995.
Other discs include Faithless, the soundtrack for a film that was never made, pedal steel-inflected country on Somewhere North of Nashville, the noirish Twilight Hours and what a press release describes as the “richly woven border tales” of Inyo. The evolution of home recording technology, Springsteen said in a statement, “allowed me to go into a wide variety of different musical directions”.
In a trailer for the release, he decried the popular opinion that he had a “lost period” in the 90s. “Really I was working the whole time,” he said. Rain in the River, from the album Perfect World, is out now.
The physical release includes a 100-page book featuring rare archival photos and liner notes for each record. A 20-song selection from across the seven albums will also be released. The original Tracks collection was released in 1998, drawing on B-sides, outtakes and demos.
Springsteen returns to the UK for the third summer in a row this year, performing in Manchester and Liverpool. His most recent original album was Only the Strong Survive, released in 2022. On Record Store Day (12 April), Springsteen and the Killers will release the Encore at the Garden EP, documenting the New Jersey musician’s surprise appearance with the Vegas indie band at Madison Square Garden in 2022.
Tracks II: The Lost Albums will be released on 27 June.
Bruce Springsteen to open vault, release 7 albums of never-before-heard songs
“Tracks II: The Lost Albums” will be available June 27 through Sony Music, the E Street Band leader announced.
Bruce Springsteen will open his vault in late June and debut 83 previously unreleased songs, in possible anticipation of a biopic about the rock legend, he announced Thursday.
“Tracks II: The Lost Albums” will comprise seven “full-length records” and be available June 27 through Sony Music, according to the E Street Band front man.
Of the 83 songs on these albums, 74 have never before been heard by the public, the artist said.
“‘The Lost Albums’ were full records, some of them even to the point of being mixed and not released,” Springsteen said in a statement. “I’ve played this music to myself and often close friends for years now. I’m glad you’ll get a chance to finally hear them. I hope you enjoy them.”
The music was written and recorded between 1983 and 2018 with a bulk of it in the 1990s, Springsteen said in a YouTube tease of the albums.
One of those tracks, “Rain in the River,” was put out Thursday.
Springsteen released “Born in the U.S.A.” in 1984, going 17-times platinum in his most commercially successful album.
His next albums were also popular, but nowhere close to “Born” levels of success. Springsteen said he chuckles over the popular belief he was somehow wandering aimlessly through the 1990s.
“I often read about myself in the ’90s as having some ‘lost’ period or something,” Springsteen said via YouTube on Thursday, using his fingers for ironic quote marks.
“Not really. Really, I was working the whole time.”
The Boss said he put finishing touches on “LA Garage Sessions ’83,” “Streets of Philadelphia Sessions,” “Somewhere North of Nashville,” “Inyo,” “Twilight Hours,” “Perfect World” and “Faithless” during the pandemic.
The music release could coincide with the upcoming film “Deliver Me From Nowhere,” a biopic about the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame icon starring “The Bear” actor Jeremy Allen White as The Boss.
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